Going to the Chapel

and she wants to get married......to her daddy, of course. And when I explained that she could not marry her daddy......she decided to settle for Sawyer. Well? We decided to worry about that one when she is older!!


This is my wedding dress if you were wondering. It has been sitting in the top of my closet for 7 years. And she asked to see it the other day. I pulled it down and tried it on. Then I tried it on Danner. She posed and smiled and twirled. And then?? Then she pouted......because it was way too big and she has nothing to wear to her wedding.

Don't worry, sweet girl. We have time to work on that!!

Santa

Yep...I said Santa. While in the mountains we visited an amusement park called Santaland. It was pretty cute and pricey and I would have preferred to pass by but the kids saw it and were dying to go. So we took them. They visited with Santa and told them what they wanted for Christmas. They had a small zoo and a few small rides.

Riding some reindeer

They are slightly disappointed that Santa hasn't made an appearance at our house!

None of them were slightly afraid of Santa

Danner said the goats were her favorite

Jesse feeding the reindeer

First roller coaster ride. They are all in there but Jesse was nervous they will fly out. 

Waiting on Santa's train

Train ride

Sawyer had to get in the pouch 

future Santa in training...

Waterfalls

One day at the mountains we decided to take a hike to a popular waterfall in Cherokee. According to Jesse it is the one from the movie The Last of the Mohicans. It is called Mingo Falls. There were about a million steps and rocks leading up to it. Jesse and I drug behind like 2 old folks and the kids ran ahead like it was nothing. They enjoyed climbing all that way to  see this....

This is out of order....but they were such good little hikers.

Trout Fishing

So while we were in the mountains we decided to take the kids to a trout farm to fish. We read a review that they were guaranteed to catch fish so we figured that they would be somewhat entertained by that. So we set off to the trout pond. Basically they provide all the gear....poles, bait, bucket, cooler. So we just showed up and they guy set us up and we headed off to fish. I decided not to get a rod since I would help the kids. Jesse wanted a rod to catch his own fish. However, he didn't get a chance to. He set Sawyer up first. Baited his line and threw it in.....and before he could get Danner's baited...he had a fish. It went like that until everyone had 2 fish a piece. We figured that was more than we could eat and getting pricey so within 15 minutes of arriving we were done. They had so much fun and wanted to stay and fish longer....but the rule was you have to keep what you catch and at $4.50 a pound we had a hefty price tag. Ha

Here are a few shots from their fishing trip. They really want to fish here at home, but I am afraid they have high expectations now. Fish just don't jump in your bucket around here. :)

Getting ready to cast out the first line....

Waiting for a fish

Danner waiting patiently.

He's got a big one....

About 2 lbs was Sawyer first catch. 

Porter fishing

Danner is too prissy for this fishing thing.

Group shot.

See what I mean?? She catches one and freaks out.....it was as dramatic as it looks!!

Porter's catch

He was actually brave enough to hold his

But it sure was yucky.

Sawyer fishing some more (and the trout guy beside him)

He got another one

our 15 minutes worth of fish

checking out the stream while the guy cleaned our fish

This was the best shot I could manage.....happy fishermen huh??

Mountains...

We decided to take a last minute trip to the mountains of NC during the week of 4th of July. Originally our plan was to go to Ohio to visit family but Jesse grandpa was sick so we decided to reschedule that trip. And since Jesse was off work for the  week we tried something new. Neither of us had actually ever visited the mountains so it was a first for everyone.

We stayed in Maggie Valley which is the Smokey Mountains and surprisingly there was quite a bit to do. The house was less than idea for our family but hey...it was last minute and we had to go with what was available. The house itself was beautiful and nice.....but outside was dangerous and risky for 4 year olds, a 2 year old, and a dog.

Here are a couple of shots from our cabin.....ON the side of the mountain. IT was steep and took 20 minutes to get to the house from the bottom. All rocky gravel, steep cliffs, and stomach turning curves. Have I mentioned I get car sick watching the kids swing....

We booked the house from Saturday to Saturday and on Monday night I was ready to go. We had pretty much done all there was to do and just over the height thing. So we made one last tourist trip Tuesday morning and drove home that afternoon. Good thing too because apparently they had an awful storm and most parts are still without power.

A nice view from the porch of the house.

The one safe place was the porch.

Another view......

This was the driveway to the house.....nice and steep. I almost puked when I found out we had to go down this to get to the house......

This is taken from the porch....see no yard....and a long ways down there.

Holding sparklers

The dog loved the mountains....he didn't have a yard to run and play in so we just ran him back and forth on the driveway. That hill wore him out.

I have more pictures of some of the things we did...coming up in the next post!!